Princess of Softball
by xxTinkxx
Summary: rewritten  It's been three years since Ryoma left and now the whole gang is back in high school minus Ryoma. Now Sakuno decides that she wants to play softball again. What will happen when he comes back? Sakuno X Ryoma and Regulars X OCs


**This is my rewrite of The Princess of Softball from a long time ago. Thank you to you all who encouraged me to keep writing and told me what you want to see in this rewrite. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own The Prince of Tennis or any characters, but I do own my OCs.**

A gentle breeze blew as Sakuno walked down the path in the park on her way home. She was in deep though about a certain cat eyed tennis player, who was currently still in America. It had been three years ago that he left for the US Open and it seemed like maybe he wouldn't ever come back. Sure sometimes he came back a week or two for a tennis tournament, but he never stayed, came to school, and he would only come to say hi and then leave again. She knew that she should just forget about him. After all the only reason he probably still recognizes her is because she was the granddaughter of his former coach. If only she could forget him like she forgets directions.

"Heads up!" someone yelled. Sakuno was yanked out of her deep thoughts and saw a softball far up in the air, coming down at her. Quickly she dropped her school bag and caught the ball with her bare hands. Without realizing it she had caught the softball. Anyone who knew how clumsy Sakuno was would stare at awe at this.

Sakuno turned to the direction where the ball came. She saw two girls, about 8 years old or so, standing on a softball field. One had catchers gear, while the other stood on the pitcher's mound, both had their mouth agape. Sakuno held up the ball and called, "Is this yours?" They just nodded in unbelief.

Sakuno walked onto the field and tossed the ball back to the pitcher. "That was amazing miss! Didn't it hurt when you caught the ball with your bare hands?" The pitcher exclaimed.

She smiled and explained, "No, I use to do softball drill that required catching a ball without a glove a lot. It's called soft handing the ball."

The pitchers eyes lit up. "You mean, you've played softball before!" Sakuno just nodded. Not many people knew about it other than close friends of hers. Sakuno never really saw the point of telling everyone that she had played softball before.

"Come on Mika! We need to practice! Our game is next week and we really need to beat that team to move up in the tournament." The catcher called.

"Hai!" Mika chimed as she bounced over to the mound. She got into her pitching stance and pitched the ball. When she released it, it went up high, almost over the backstop. Mika looked down at her feet, embarrassed that Sakuno had seen this.

Sakuno could see many things wrong with the pitching technique, but many girls Mika's age had bad technique. Sakuno spoke up and said, "Um, you need to speed up your follow through and release a little sooner."

Mika looked up a little shocked, "Are you a pitcher?"

Sakuno looked down at her feet a little embarrassed, "Well I use to be but I ended up quitting." She paused for a second looking up, "Um, do you mind if I try?"

The pitcher nodded and handed her ball and glove to Sakuno. She took her spot on the mound, adjusting her footing. She took a deep breath and focused on the catcher's glove. Bending her legs Sakuno started up into her pitch. She rocked back and then pushed off the mound with her right leg to pitch the ball in a full windmill motion. The ball zoomed to the catcher's glove. The catcher didn't even have to move her glove from her starting position.

"Wow! You're really good er…." The pitcher's voice faded into uncertainty

"Sakuno, may I ask your names?"

"I'm Mika and this is Suji." The pitcher said motioning to herself and the catcher.

Suji started to take of her gear and called out to Mika, "It's time to go home Mika. We told our parents we would be home soon!"

"Okay!" Mika said walking over to Suji who was done packing. Before they left she yelled, "Bye, bye Sakuno. It was fun!"

Sakuno decided to stay for a little while longer. She had a nostalgic feeling being on a softball field again. It was almost bitter sweet. Little did she know there was a curious red head watching her! Sakuno walked around the bases remembering the joy she felt when she once ran them. It made her wonder why she ever gave up softball in the first place.

That's right, her grandmother always wanted her to play tennis but the problem was she never could figure out why people found tennis a fun sport. Then when Ryoma came she really paid attention to tennis and learned that it was a pretty fun sport. She stopped playing softball so she could play tennis but she was never as good at tennis as she was at softball.

Sakuno walked over to the pitcher's mound and a cool breeze lifted her two long braids off her shoulders and she closed her eyes. She remembered how people thought she couldn't pitch well because she wasn't tall or hefty. After all every major softball player knew that the perfect pitcher would be tall and big, unlike her.

Sakuno often got teased because they thought she wouldn't be able to pitch. Then when she did pitch to them, she would strike them all out. For some reason she was really confident when she played softball, unlike when she is at school.

Then someone shouted and her eyes flew open, "SAAAKKKUUUUNNNOOOOO!" She looked over to see Eiji waving at her.

Sakuno walked off of the field to where Eiji was standing. "Hello Eiji!" she said smiling.

"What were you doing out there?" He asked energetically.

"Oh-um, I just was helping a little girl with her pitching, but she had to go home."

Eiji grinned, "Do you play softball?"

"I use to but I stopped." She said shyly.

"Aw, what happened? Oh I know! You stopped playing softball and start tennis because of Ryoma!" Eiji was jumping up and down with a grin on his face.

Sakuno's face was as red as a tomato, "N-no that isn't it, my grandma wanted me to do tennis but I could only do one sport at a time!"

"So you gave up softball?"

"Yah, but now I'm wishing I just stuck with softball. Tennis is a fun sport and all but I would rather watch it than play." Sakuno looked at the ground.

"So are you going to quite tennis and start softball again?" Ejij's question shocked her. She hadn't even really considered going back to softball before. After all it had been a long time.

"Um- I don't know," she looked at her watch, "Oh my it's getting late I better get home. Well I'll see you around Eiji!" Sakuno ran waving back at Eiji.

"Bye, Bye Sakuno!" He wave back. "Hope you can decide what you want to do!"


End file.
